So, I am a little apprehensive about tapping my pan, especially since vortech only sends the drill tool and no tap. So, i finally hunted down the "proper" tap needed and went to the garage to tap an old timing cover from my VW. I used the supplied tool from vortech after drilling a guide hole and went to use the tap, but the hole from the tool was too large for the tap....well, thats weird. I then took the supplied fitting which is to be screwed into the block after tapping, and the hole is nowhere near large enough to accomodate the fitting...wtf. Does anybody have the tools left from when they tapped their block i could buy/rent from you??

 

I would suggest getting an oil pan spacer that's already pre-tapped. Does two things for you: it's already tapped properly and it gives you the room to run a little more oil. I'm using the AAM but there are others out there.

 

Yeah, I'm running at JWT spacer and have the return line going to it. I know some people have a preference to tapping over a spacer due to gravity, but I have not had any problems in almost 90k miles.

 

Yah, was looking at the spacer, but was worried about hampering the flow of oil, but sounds like that is not a concern, thanks guys

 

you probably didnt get the correct tap.

It was a fairly large npt tap. Which did you buy?

 

I think the issue is less about gravity and more about the fact that when the drain port sits below the oil level, any positive crankcase pressure at all (which is not uncommon with forced induction engines) will push oil back up the drain line into the SC. Probably not an issue if you run a large enough crankcase vent. I recall reading several threads on the subject and people alluding to having had problems but not being very specific about setups or symptoms, which makes said problems very hard to diagnose properly. Makes me wonder what sort of crankcase vent setups they used, if any.

I'm still on the fence about this with my Vortech setup, but I have until spring break to sort it. It'd be nice to avoid tapping the block, but if that's what has to be done, so be it. The extra oil capacity would be nice.

 

I tried to recall everything I could remember about CC pressure and it's just not coming to. Either way, the issue is if the headunit drains properly.

Which ever way you go, an oil pan spacer would not be a bad addition.

 

Going to try a couple more taps, if I can't figure it out, will throw a pre drilled spacer on

 

I could certainly be wrong about people having had real-life failures with the pan spacer drain. It seems like there's always someone whose daddy's cousin's best friend's dog had a horrible failure with things like this, but when you ask for people who have had real world experience with these sort of failures, the posts just seem to dry up.

There is no shortage of internet experts who "know better" though, regardless of whether they have actual experience or not. I ran into a lot of that when I stopped running blowoff valves on all my turbo cars several years ago.

 

you need a 3/8" NPT tap and a 37/64 drill bit.

Then you use a 3/8" npt to whatver fitting is coming off your drain. I used -10AN

 

Then why would vortech ship the fitting with a 9/16 drill bit to cut the hole??

 

Who knows……

 

9/16 is 36/64 very close to 37/64

 

ya 37/64 is an odd size bit. available on amazon etc, but not often in drill kits bc its very big.

9/16 will easily tap to a 3/8 npt. Just make sure you dont tap more than around 1/2 or less way down the tap. Obviously the tap is tapered so if you drive it down too far, you'll never tighten the fitting properly.

 

picked up this off ebay,
http://www.ebay.com/itm/310807656362...84.m1439.l2649

3/8 NPT tap.....fitting fits perfect! Thanks for all the input guys!

 

if you go with larger boost you need to increase the drain line size too.

I am now running two half inch lines off of my blower. Just and FYI. Go with the largest line you can now off of the blower to the tap. Save yourself many blown seals if you ever run big power.

 

 

getting my hand in there required some David Copperfield magic...good luck getting a camera in there! lol Plus I have the metal shield undertray installed. Ill try to grab some sort of pic.


Basically I have one line at six oclock pos, and another at about 830 coming off the blower. I did tap the block per the instructions... reducer on from the half inch.


The other line goes the the AAM oil pan spacer, but I ran it on the passenger side to allow more oil to escape the blower. Figured shorter line, there is more change of build up.

928 motorsports has some good information on drainage.

I bet I could of saved a few hundred, had I known to change the drain line size per x amount of increased boost years ago. Ive put new seals in more than I have serpentine belts. lol. Getting about 3 years out of the HD Green Gates.

Still need to add my Fluidine 6.75in crank....too lazy...too happy with the car to mess with it. 1000cc injectors sitting in a box too.

 

did you increase the supply line too? Or was the drain line restricting the supply line flow volume? Would make sense that the supply line was over pressurizing the housing and thus pushing oil past the seals.

 

No the supply side if anything is more efficient. The issues I am having (spinning over 7500rpms) is that the pressure inside the blower is too much. The seals give and im shooting oil down the intercooler and on my MAF, intake...engine.

Funny thing is. I can run 6500 rpms all day with zero issues...its only when I go over the 7K mark. This time I didnt fix it myself, i sent blower to 928, described my **EDIT** every two years rebuilds. They told me to read up on the drain side of things. I did so in one of their tech articles.

I also noticed my blower would get extremely hot. like crazy hot. I know it should get toasty but mine actually started to peel off the powdercoating.

so I have only had the car running about 45 days and only drove it about 6 of those days, so she is still set at 6500 rpms. 470rwhp

Ill push her once the weather gets above freezing. The high today in DC is 18!